Melrose High gymnastics team posts fourth straight undefeated season

The Melrose High gymnastics team accomplished the unthinkable, posting its fourth consecutive undefeated season by stopping Stoneham, 140.45-134.05, Feb. 1.

Christopher Hurley / churley@wickedlocal.com

It was a fitting way to wrap up an amazing regular season run.

The Melrose High gymnastics team accomplished the unthinkable, posting its fourth consecutive undefeated season by stopping Stoneham, 140.45-134.05, Feb. 1.

According to Red Raider co-captains Morgan Phipps, running the table the past four seasons was a satisfying achievement.

“It feels amazing,” Phipps said. “It was a perfect way to go out and exactly the way how we wanted to go out.”

The team was all business as it played host to the Spartans Friday night. Junior Annalisa Debari continued to dominate posting meet highs in all four events including the beam (9.5), floor (9.45), vault (9.3) and bars (9.1). Debari set the standard of excellence that the rest of the team followed to the very last detail.

Freshman Brook Norris navigated her way to a second place showing on the vault (9.0). The event was the team’s strong suit with Phipps (9.0) and junior Julia Lomakin (8.8) also scoring heavily.

The team maintained its poise on the balance beam with Debari, junior Courtney Roderick (8.9), Phipps (8.9) and co-captain Alyssa McFarland (8.8) keeping the team ahead by a healthy margin.

Melrose was bolstered by a pivotal performance on the bars. Debari, Phipps (8.2), senior Kate Dreske (8.1) and Lomakin (7.9) held their own, respectively.

The team turned it up one final time on the floor exercise, as Debari, junior Rachel Ardizzoni (8.8), Dreske (8.4) and sophomore Audrey McFarland (8.3), all chipped in to stop Stoneham 34.95-34.15 to complete the sweep.

“We had higher scores than we ever expected,” said Phipps. “We had three nines on vault. We had very high scores on beam, which we’re not used to because we fall a lot. It was everything we wanted and more. I felt honored being their captain.”

McFarland finds the way to win

Winning has been nothing knew for Alyssa McFarland.

She began studying gymnastics at the age of seven, and quickly became acclimated to the sport.

“Originally I think my mom just wanted to sign me up to just get into a sport,” she said. “I wasn’t even on a team yet, it was an eight week class, but I really liked it. From there, my coach offered me a spot to tryout for her private club team. I liked it a lot and just kept doing it.”

It was there that she first joined forces with Phipps. The pair forged an immediate friendship, which carried over into the high school ranks. The pair first broke into the varsity roster their sophomore season, along with Dreske and Alicia Valdez. The fantastic four continued the team’s winning tradition over the next three seasons. McFarland and Phipps were both named co-captains their junior season.

She couldn’t think of a better group to share this accomplishment with.

“It’s been really awesome,’ McFarland said. “I’ve been friends with Kate and Alicia after I met them in school, but it was realty great to experience it with Morgan, because we started gymnastics together and have been on the same team for years. So it was really great to work together through it all.”

According to McFarland, the team’s strong sense of camaraderie has been the driving force in what has set them apart from the rest of the pack.

“Everyone gets along and we all encourage each other,” McFarland said. “Sometimes in gymnastics you find yourself competing against your own teammates, but our team isn’t like that at all. We always encourage each other to do our best and practice the new skills that will get us our highest scores.”

McFarland has prided herself with her work on the balance beam, an art she continues to master.

“[The key is] trying not to get too nervous,” McFarland said. “It’s hard sometimes, but I always try to take a deep breath before I perform and just relax so I’m not wobbling or shaking on the beam.”

It’s a technique she’ll undoubtedly try to summon as the Red Raiders head into their final test, the Middlesex League Meet, Friday, Feb. 8.

Melrose took both the league and NEC titles the past three seasons, and would like nothing more than to repeat as champions in a clean sweep.

“We’re undefeated in the regular season, so we definitely want to win the league meet too so we can be the league and league meet champions,” McFarland said. “We’re still working to try to beat out our last score that we got the meet before. So we’re going to try to get higher than 140.”

“I want to finish out the season strong,” she added. “We all want to do our best. I’m just glad I had a great team to do it with.”